Oops! I just discovered this in my draft posts… we made this cake again last night for Eldest's birthday party today. When I went to link to the recipe, I couldn't find it… anyways, here it is. The recipe is so well-loved by us that the book, which was pretty much pristine when I bought it, has come apart at the seams at just this recipe.
This post is way, way overdue. Last May, a few days before Youngest's birthday, I didn't know what kind of cake to make him. He had all kinds of requests, not all of them coherent or applicable to most cakes I knew about. So I was a bit stumped. My usual standby is carrot cake with cream cheese icing, but we can't tolerate cream cheese anymore.
Then in a usual spin around my favourite thrift store, I discovered The Cake Bible, a few days before his birthday. I decided to try the Cordon Rose Banana Cake with the recommended Sour Cream Ganache. I was a bit skeptical about a banana cake with lemon zest AND vanilla, but it was amazing, and worked great with gluten-free flour. And the icing… it is now my favourite icing. To me it seems so decadent and rich and fancy, but it only has two ingredients: melted bittersweet chocolate (lots of it) and sour cream. I cannot recommend this recipe enough.
It so happens that my husband baked this for me on my Boxing Day birthday this year, and it was such a treat. So here is the recipe.
(This picture is from Nana's birthday last September… we made it for her too.)
Cordon Rose Banana Cake
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sifted cake flour (we just use our own all-purpose, gluten-free mix)
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons softened, unsalted butter
1 9x2 inch cake pan or 9-inch springform pan, greased, bottom lined with parchment, and then greased again and floured
Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the banana and sou cream until smooth. Add the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and mix briefly just to blend. (The book says to use a food processor but I just use our mixer.)
In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and half the banana mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1.5 minutes to aerate and strengthen the cake's structure. Scrape down the sides. Gradually add the remaining banana mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and develop the structure. Scrape down the sides.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until a wire cake tester inserted in the centre, comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the centre. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula and unsold or remove the sides of the springform pan. Allow the cake to cool completely before wrapping airtight.
Sour Cream Ganache
12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
1 2/3 cups of sour cream
In a double boiler set over hot water or in a microwave on high power, stirring every 10 seconds, melt the chocolate. Remove from the heat and add the sour cream. Stir with a rubber spatula until uniform in colour. Use at once or store, and when ready to use soften by placing the bowl in a water bath or a microwave for a few seconds, stirring gently.
(The first time we made this cake for Youngest… we also made the blueberry sauce in the book, because he wanted the cake to have blue on it.)
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Monday, December 9, 2013
sourdough buckwheat pancakes
I've been making sourdough buckwheat pancakes at least once a week and often more frequently than that since I first started my gluten-free sourdough starter last March. These things are the bomb. I've been meaning to post the recipe here for ages, but somehow I haven't quite gotten to it. But now Kelly at Oh Lardy has asked for a good buckwheat pancake recipe, so it's time.
In the summer, we went to my parents' cottage for a few days and left the starter at home. My mom had bought a gluten-free pancake mix and even with good maple syrup, I couldn't believe how bland they were (compared to my sourdough buckwheat pancakes of course). If you're reading this, Mom, there was nothing wrong with the mix -- just my tastebuds.
So now I'm spoiled.
I've also found the pancakes work great as sandwich holders for ham and trout -- they're especially nice with dijon. Delightful. Although the other day I tried having one as part of a fried egg sandwich and it was not good.
I've mentioned my love for the rhythm of sourdough recipes before and it hasn't dampened in the eight months since. My favourite recipe is by far these pancakes. They alone make keeping the starter alive worth it. And it didn't take much to create the starter. I used this recipe.
Gluten-free Sourdough Buckwheat Pancakes
The night before, I mix together:
1 cup buckwheat flour*
1 cup of starter
about 1 cup of water
Often I need a bit more water. It should be fairly thick batter, because the morning's ingredients are almost all wet, but not stiff at all. I mix them all together than put it in the oven with the light on.
In the morning, I turn the heat on under the griddle and pull out the batter. I mix in:
3 tbsp of melted butter
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 to 1 tsp sea salt
After those are mixed in, I add:
1 egg, beaten
I grab a quarter-cup measure and make sure I'm all ready to go with a hot griddle (I use pretty high heat on mine, but I've used medium-high heat and been fine too). Then, in a separate bowl, I mix together:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp water (if the batter is too thick, try 2 tbsp of water)
Once the baking soda and water is somewhat mixed in, I use a spatula to scrape it all out into the batter and fold it in thoroughly. Then I use the quarter-cup measure to pour out each pancake.
*if you need to be gluten-free, make sure the buckwheat flour wasn't milled in a mill that processes wheat. Either light or dark buckwheat works fine, although I find the whole-grain flour more flavourful.
Important note about cooking gluten-free pancakes:
They take longer to cook than gluten-y pancakes. When you're cooking gluten-free pancakes, you don't just wait until bubbles form to flip them. You wait until the very outer edges of just starting to dry a bit and then you flip them. They should also be puffy looking, although I've discovered that if I'm a bit late with the flipping they deflate a bit.
These are really very forgiving to cook. I've made them with thicker and thinner batter and they've been fine, I've made them on higher and lower heat, more and less done… they're always edible. Especially if you slather them with butter under the maple syrup.
So enjoy. If you make them, I'd love to hear how you like them.
In the summer, we went to my parents' cottage for a few days and left the starter at home. My mom had bought a gluten-free pancake mix and even with good maple syrup, I couldn't believe how bland they were (compared to my sourdough buckwheat pancakes of course). If you're reading this, Mom, there was nothing wrong with the mix -- just my tastebuds.
So now I'm spoiled.
I've also found the pancakes work great as sandwich holders for ham and trout -- they're especially nice with dijon. Delightful. Although the other day I tried having one as part of a fried egg sandwich and it was not good.
I've mentioned my love for the rhythm of sourdough recipes before and it hasn't dampened in the eight months since. My favourite recipe is by far these pancakes. They alone make keeping the starter alive worth it. And it didn't take much to create the starter. I used this recipe.
Gluten-free Sourdough Buckwheat Pancakes
The night before, I mix together:
1 cup buckwheat flour*
1 cup of starter
about 1 cup of water
Often I need a bit more water. It should be fairly thick batter, because the morning's ingredients are almost all wet, but not stiff at all. I mix them all together than put it in the oven with the light on.
In the morning, I turn the heat on under the griddle and pull out the batter. I mix in:
3 tbsp of melted butter
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 to 1 tsp sea salt
After those are mixed in, I add:
1 egg, beaten
I grab a quarter-cup measure and make sure I'm all ready to go with a hot griddle (I use pretty high heat on mine, but I've used medium-high heat and been fine too). Then, in a separate bowl, I mix together:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp water (if the batter is too thick, try 2 tbsp of water)
Once the baking soda and water is somewhat mixed in, I use a spatula to scrape it all out into the batter and fold it in thoroughly. Then I use the quarter-cup measure to pour out each pancake.
*if you need to be gluten-free, make sure the buckwheat flour wasn't milled in a mill that processes wheat. Either light or dark buckwheat works fine, although I find the whole-grain flour more flavourful.
Important note about cooking gluten-free pancakes:
They take longer to cook than gluten-y pancakes. When you're cooking gluten-free pancakes, you don't just wait until bubbles form to flip them. You wait until the very outer edges of just starting to dry a bit and then you flip them. They should also be puffy looking, although I've discovered that if I'm a bit late with the flipping they deflate a bit.
These are really very forgiving to cook. I've made them with thicker and thinner batter and they've been fine, I've made them on higher and lower heat, more and less done… they're always edible. Especially if you slather them with butter under the maple syrup.
So enjoy. If you make them, I'd love to hear how you like them.
Friday, April 12, 2013
surfacing from sourdough
I am no longer suffocating in sourdough! (AND 19 of my celeriac germinated!) On Easter weekend we went to my parents' place and I put the sourdough starter in the fridge and hoped for the best. It was just fine when I got home, so I left it in the fridge and I'm only feeding it about every three days or so. Which is much less expensive and also gives me more freedom in the kitchen, or elsewhere. Truth be told, I didn't really like any of the gluten-free sourdough breads I made. And I had to make so many sourdough buckwheat pancakes and sourdough muffins to keep up with the starter, that I had no room to eat the sourdough bread. I think I will keep the starter, but maybe I just don't need a lot of bread in my life at the moment. The sourdough pancakes are totally here to stay.
One of the things I like about the sourdough way is that it splits the labour. You spend a few minutes before bed mixing some starter, flour and water for pancakes the next morning, leave it in the oven with the light on overnight and then add fat, eggs, sweetener, salt and some baking soda in the morning before cooking. You mix some starter with oats and flour and just enough water to make dampen it all after breakfast, and then during naptime that afternoon or after dinner, you add other stuff to make muffins. There's a pleasant, slow rhythm about it all. I adapted my favourite banana bread recipe first to be gluten-free then to be sourdough and they're ok. Pretty nice I guess. Moist with a nice texture, although slightly cakier than I would prefer.
Baking has a reputation for requiring absolute precision but I have found that is not true if you loosen your expectations a little. If all you expect is something that is mostly like a muffin and kind of sweet, it's very easy to meet it, and you can take a fair amount of liberty. The last batch of muffins I made I measured the oats, sourdough starter and flour, butter, brown sugar (approximately) and eggs - oh and the baking powder and baking soda (the sourdough probably does add leavening but not enough to fly solo. I just sub the starter for a cup of the flour and half a cup of the water in the recipe). But I didn't measure the pumpkin (probably a cup and a half) or vanilla extract (probably a tablespoon - I made the extract myself last year and it's pretty weak) and I added a whole grated carrot just because. And they came out fine. I did warn a guest that they were a bit odd, but that was more because of the sourdough thing.
I've been exploring the sourdough thing because I'm thinking about only eating soaked or soured grains. My youngest has two extra teeth crowded on top and late last fall we noticed a few dark spots on the most crowded. It must be tooth decay. And one of his teeth is chipped and just today I noticed there is less tooth than yesterday or the day before. Given his nutritionally-deficient past and foods we are avoiding, it just makes sense to me that there is a dietary cause and potential cure. My googling led me quickly to Cure Tooth Decay, but I was skeptical. Then Owlet mentioned it and the diet they adopted. Last week a mother in the homeschool group mentioned that she loved the book and was two months into its most extreme program and she had already noticed a big difference. She lent me the book and I'm nearing the end. I hope to write more about it when I'm done. In the meantime I will say that it's VERY compelling. And as much as I shy away from 'extreme' diets that seek to cut out whole groups of foods, I think I shy away a lot more from dental surgery on my young toddler. One of the things I like about the book and its suggestions is that it is not dogmatic. It encourages you at every turn to do what feels right to you, and the website has testimonials from people who didn't go whole hog but still saw major improvements.
I will say that if we do adopt (more) major changes to our diet (now that we've mostly normalized the last year's changes), I will develop a strategy and add in new foods before removing any. If I had to go back to last spring and do it all over again, I don't know if I would jump on the elimination diet and identifying intolerances. Our dietician suspects that Youngest's intolerances are really secondary, because his gut was so poorly it just couldn't digest gluten, soy and casein - the hardest proteins to digest. We're back on corn now -- I think that was a nonstarter all along, but tomatoes seem slightly iffy. It's also possible that eliminating those foods so suddenly, without getting comfortable with their replacements could have made his deficiencies worse.
Anyways... I don't think I will eliminate grains totally but I may prepare them all better to make them more digestible. And I may try to eliminate refined sugar but I think I very much want to keep honey and maple syrup in my life. But first it's time to add lots more vegetables.
* * *
Here is my favourite banana bread recipe. If you make muffins instead of a loaf reduce the baking time by at least half and possibly more depending on your muffin holder thingie (I don't want to say tin since there are so many other materials).
Banana Oat Loaf
1/2 c butter or marg
3/4 c brown sugar
1 c rolled oats
1/2 c hot water
1 c mashed bananas (3-4, the riper the better, I never measure)
3/4 c chopped nuts(optional)
2 eggs beaten
2 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (I usually reduce this a bit)
I add chocolate chips as well (3/4 c-1 c? I just eyeball it)
Place soft butter, sugar, oats, hot water, mashed bananas and nuts in large bowl. Stir until well blended. Add beaten eggs. Beat until well blended. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt; add to first mixture all at once and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.(if desired) Spoon evenly into greased loaf pan. (9 x 5 x 3 inch) Bake at 350 degrees about 65 minutes or until done. Remove from loaf pan, cool on rack. Let stand for a few hours before slicing (If you can wait that long).
I've also used grated zucchini, carrot, often with some applesauce, grated raw beet, grated apple, pumpkin puree and squash puree in place of the bananas.
* * *
I haven't forgotten about my giveaway. I was hoping to have more than one person enter, and that's kind of why I didn't give a deadline. Feel free to enter now if you're interested. Oh -- and the only entrant so far wanted to know what a schmeck is. Schmeck is actually a verb. It means to taste really, really good.
One of the things I like about the sourdough way is that it splits the labour. You spend a few minutes before bed mixing some starter, flour and water for pancakes the next morning, leave it in the oven with the light on overnight and then add fat, eggs, sweetener, salt and some baking soda in the morning before cooking. You mix some starter with oats and flour and just enough water to make dampen it all after breakfast, and then during naptime that afternoon or after dinner, you add other stuff to make muffins. There's a pleasant, slow rhythm about it all. I adapted my favourite banana bread recipe first to be gluten-free then to be sourdough and they're ok. Pretty nice I guess. Moist with a nice texture, although slightly cakier than I would prefer.
Baking has a reputation for requiring absolute precision but I have found that is not true if you loosen your expectations a little. If all you expect is something that is mostly like a muffin and kind of sweet, it's very easy to meet it, and you can take a fair amount of liberty. The last batch of muffins I made I measured the oats, sourdough starter and flour, butter, brown sugar (approximately) and eggs - oh and the baking powder and baking soda (the sourdough probably does add leavening but not enough to fly solo. I just sub the starter for a cup of the flour and half a cup of the water in the recipe). But I didn't measure the pumpkin (probably a cup and a half) or vanilla extract (probably a tablespoon - I made the extract myself last year and it's pretty weak) and I added a whole grated carrot just because. And they came out fine. I did warn a guest that they were a bit odd, but that was more because of the sourdough thing.
I've been exploring the sourdough thing because I'm thinking about only eating soaked or soured grains. My youngest has two extra teeth crowded on top and late last fall we noticed a few dark spots on the most crowded. It must be tooth decay. And one of his teeth is chipped and just today I noticed there is less tooth than yesterday or the day before. Given his nutritionally-deficient past and foods we are avoiding, it just makes sense to me that there is a dietary cause and potential cure. My googling led me quickly to Cure Tooth Decay, but I was skeptical. Then Owlet mentioned it and the diet they adopted. Last week a mother in the homeschool group mentioned that she loved the book and was two months into its most extreme program and she had already noticed a big difference. She lent me the book and I'm nearing the end. I hope to write more about it when I'm done. In the meantime I will say that it's VERY compelling. And as much as I shy away from 'extreme' diets that seek to cut out whole groups of foods, I think I shy away a lot more from dental surgery on my young toddler. One of the things I like about the book and its suggestions is that it is not dogmatic. It encourages you at every turn to do what feels right to you, and the website has testimonials from people who didn't go whole hog but still saw major improvements.
I will say that if we do adopt (more) major changes to our diet (now that we've mostly normalized the last year's changes), I will develop a strategy and add in new foods before removing any. If I had to go back to last spring and do it all over again, I don't know if I would jump on the elimination diet and identifying intolerances. Our dietician suspects that Youngest's intolerances are really secondary, because his gut was so poorly it just couldn't digest gluten, soy and casein - the hardest proteins to digest. We're back on corn now -- I think that was a nonstarter all along, but tomatoes seem slightly iffy. It's also possible that eliminating those foods so suddenly, without getting comfortable with their replacements could have made his deficiencies worse.
Anyways... I don't think I will eliminate grains totally but I may prepare them all better to make them more digestible. And I may try to eliminate refined sugar but I think I very much want to keep honey and maple syrup in my life. But first it's time to add lots more vegetables.
* * *
Here is my favourite banana bread recipe. If you make muffins instead of a loaf reduce the baking time by at least half and possibly more depending on your muffin holder thingie (I don't want to say tin since there are so many other materials).
Banana Oat Loaf
1/2 c butter or marg
3/4 c brown sugar
1 c rolled oats
1/2 c hot water
1 c mashed bananas (3-4, the riper the better, I never measure)
3/4 c chopped nuts(optional)
2 eggs beaten
2 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (I usually reduce this a bit)
I add chocolate chips as well (3/4 c-1 c? I just eyeball it)
Place soft butter, sugar, oats, hot water, mashed bananas and nuts in large bowl. Stir until well blended. Add beaten eggs. Beat until well blended. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt; add to first mixture all at once and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.(if desired) Spoon evenly into greased loaf pan. (9 x 5 x 3 inch) Bake at 350 degrees about 65 minutes or until done. Remove from loaf pan, cool on rack. Let stand for a few hours before slicing (If you can wait that long).
I've also used grated zucchini, carrot, often with some applesauce, grated raw beet, grated apple, pumpkin puree and squash puree in place of the bananas.
* * *
I haven't forgotten about my giveaway. I was hoping to have more than one person enter, and that's kind of why I didn't give a deadline. Feel free to enter now if you're interested. Oh -- and the only entrant so far wanted to know what a schmeck is. Schmeck is actually a verb. It means to taste really, really good.
Monday, March 11, 2013
more sourdough, two Edna's and a giveaway
It's been more than a week, and my sourdough starter is still alive! On Thursday, it was looking really sad. Almost no bubbles and a whole lot of hooch (alcohol sitting on top, which I have since learned is usually a sign that your starter needs more to eat). So that night, I took some out for sourdough pancakes the next morning, and fed the starter more like a cup and a half of flour instead of the regular cup, and the next morning it was all fluffy and happy again. The sourdough pancakes were not great, but I had suspicions about the recipe so I had another recipe to try next time (Next time was actually this morning, and the second recipe was WAY better. I will definitely make it again.)
I made a different loaf of sourdough bread on Saturday, this one with chickpea flour. It's a bit softer than the first one and not gummy at all, but I don't think the chickpea flavour is doing it for me.
In the meantime, this starter continues to eat and grow and I have to keep finding ways to use it. I *could* just throw some out, but I am stubborn and cheap and that seems a terrible waste. Of course, I don't seem to have a problem with throwing away lousy, gluten-free sourdough bread. Actually, I do. I know I will finish off the chickpea bread toasted and covered in almond butter and jam, and it will be edible.
And the first sourdough loaf I made into gluten-free, dairy-free bread pudding. There's still a teensy bit left in my fridge, if you can get here before I finish it. Bread pudding is one of the top five things I have really missed with our diet restrictions. Maybe even THE top thing. But this bread pudding is even a hit with the gluten-eaters in my house.
* * *
In The Marriage of the Sun and Moon, Dr. Andrew Weil recounts the social context in which coca usage occurs in a South American indigenous culture. They use it if they have to go on a long hike, if they have a lot of work to do, and for celebrations. Weil proposes that a strict social context prevents addiction, and that the problem with drugs in North America is not so much the drugs themselves as it is the lack of social context for their usage.
One of the first vintage of cookbooks I found was The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis. Although I haven't actually cooked much from it, it's really my favourite. Because it's not just a book of recipes. It's organized by season and occasion. She starts with a menu, writes about the context of the food and meal, and then gives you the recipes. This, to me, seems like how cookbooks should really be done, especially in North America where we've become so divorced not just from seasonality but from the cultural context of eating.
My second-favourite cookbook is probably Food That Really Schmecks for reasons I've already gone into (although, again, I haven't actually cooked a lot from it. The time will come, I am sure). I love that the recipes are all local, and also that my Grandma Ruth owned a copy.
So to make my bread pudding I used Edna Lewis's method but Edna Staebler's ingredients (with substitutions, obviously).
Bread Pudding
1 1/2 cups (almond) milk
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups diced bread cubes (I didn't measure them, just used all I had)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, beaten
a handful or two of raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla
sprinkling of cinnamon
I beat the eggs, add in the sugar, mix well. Pour in the milk, stirring as you pour. Add the butter and vanilla. Mix in the bread and let sit. Stir in some raisins if you want. Pour it into a buttered 8x8 baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon. I let it sit in the fridge overnight before baking it in a roasting pan with some hot water for 40-50 minutes at 300F. I think mine took more like an hour and 20 minutes but I was worried about the pyrex dish breaking so it would have taken a long time for the water to heat up.
Here is what Edna Lewis has to say about bread pudding:
"Bread pudding and other custard dishes were popular in the early spring because of new calves and new green grass producing extra pails of milk, and a good way to use some of the stale bread was to make bread pudding. I can still remember entering the kitchen, which was detached from the main house, and there, cooling on a table near the door, would be a big pan of delicious-looking bread pudding, filling the air with the rich smell of butter and nutmeg rising from the layers of bread that were submerged in a custard of rich milk, fresh country eggs, and plump raisins."
* * *
So I have this problem with thrift stores. I love going to them, at least weekly. One of my problems is a strange sense of loyalty. If I see a plate or a bowl in the same pattern as one I already own, I just can't leave them behind, even if I have no need for more. I feel like I'm reuniting family. And when I saw a copy of Food That Really Schmecks and then More Food That Really Schmecks, well, I had to take them home too. I had an idea to host a giveaway on my blog, because I see those a lot, although they're usually sponsored by the people who sell the thing being given away. So I thought it would be neat to do kind of an anti-giveaway.
I just had one problem: no readers. So I figured I'd wait until I developed a bit of an audience. But someone else had a similar idea, and I just won that awesome book. So now I'm all inspired to just go ahead with the giveaway. Surely someone will drop in by accident and want to play?
Ok. So if you want either Food That Really Schmecks or More Food That Really Schmecks, tell me something about yourself and why you want them. Let me know whether you want one or both. These books are probably best for omnivores, although there are lots of baking recipes and vegetable recipes so maybe I'm just being negative. So who's going to play?
I made a different loaf of sourdough bread on Saturday, this one with chickpea flour. It's a bit softer than the first one and not gummy at all, but I don't think the chickpea flavour is doing it for me.
In the meantime, this starter continues to eat and grow and I have to keep finding ways to use it. I *could* just throw some out, but I am stubborn and cheap and that seems a terrible waste. Of course, I don't seem to have a problem with throwing away lousy, gluten-free sourdough bread. Actually, I do. I know I will finish off the chickpea bread toasted and covered in almond butter and jam, and it will be edible.
And the first sourdough loaf I made into gluten-free, dairy-free bread pudding. There's still a teensy bit left in my fridge, if you can get here before I finish it. Bread pudding is one of the top five things I have really missed with our diet restrictions. Maybe even THE top thing. But this bread pudding is even a hit with the gluten-eaters in my house.
* * *
In The Marriage of the Sun and Moon, Dr. Andrew Weil recounts the social context in which coca usage occurs in a South American indigenous culture. They use it if they have to go on a long hike, if they have a lot of work to do, and for celebrations. Weil proposes that a strict social context prevents addiction, and that the problem with drugs in North America is not so much the drugs themselves as it is the lack of social context for their usage.
One of the first vintage of cookbooks I found was The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis. Although I haven't actually cooked much from it, it's really my favourite. Because it's not just a book of recipes. It's organized by season and occasion. She starts with a menu, writes about the context of the food and meal, and then gives you the recipes. This, to me, seems like how cookbooks should really be done, especially in North America where we've become so divorced not just from seasonality but from the cultural context of eating.
My second-favourite cookbook is probably Food That Really Schmecks for reasons I've already gone into (although, again, I haven't actually cooked a lot from it. The time will come, I am sure). I love that the recipes are all local, and also that my Grandma Ruth owned a copy.
So to make my bread pudding I used Edna Lewis's method but Edna Staebler's ingredients (with substitutions, obviously).
Bread Pudding
1 1/2 cups (almond) milk
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups diced bread cubes (I didn't measure them, just used all I had)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, beaten
a handful or two of raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla
sprinkling of cinnamon
I beat the eggs, add in the sugar, mix well. Pour in the milk, stirring as you pour. Add the butter and vanilla. Mix in the bread and let sit. Stir in some raisins if you want. Pour it into a buttered 8x8 baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon. I let it sit in the fridge overnight before baking it in a roasting pan with some hot water for 40-50 minutes at 300F. I think mine took more like an hour and 20 minutes but I was worried about the pyrex dish breaking so it would have taken a long time for the water to heat up.
Here is what Edna Lewis has to say about bread pudding:
"Bread pudding and other custard dishes were popular in the early spring because of new calves and new green grass producing extra pails of milk, and a good way to use some of the stale bread was to make bread pudding. I can still remember entering the kitchen, which was detached from the main house, and there, cooling on a table near the door, would be a big pan of delicious-looking bread pudding, filling the air with the rich smell of butter and nutmeg rising from the layers of bread that were submerged in a custard of rich milk, fresh country eggs, and plump raisins."
* * *
So I have this problem with thrift stores. I love going to them, at least weekly. One of my problems is a strange sense of loyalty. If I see a plate or a bowl in the same pattern as one I already own, I just can't leave them behind, even if I have no need for more. I feel like I'm reuniting family. And when I saw a copy of Food That Really Schmecks and then More Food That Really Schmecks, well, I had to take them home too. I had an idea to host a giveaway on my blog, because I see those a lot, although they're usually sponsored by the people who sell the thing being given away. So I thought it would be neat to do kind of an anti-giveaway.
I just had one problem: no readers. So I figured I'd wait until I developed a bit of an audience. But someone else had a similar idea, and I just won that awesome book. So now I'm all inspired to just go ahead with the giveaway. Surely someone will drop in by accident and want to play?
Ok. So if you want either Food That Really Schmecks or More Food That Really Schmecks, tell me something about yourself and why you want them. Let me know whether you want one or both. These books are probably best for omnivores, although there are lots of baking recipes and vegetable recipes so maybe I'm just being negative. So who's going to play?
Friday, February 22, 2013
baking powder
A couple of weeks ago, I was flipping through one of my vintage cookbooks (In Pursuit of Flavour by Edna Lewis), and I noticed a recipe for baking powder. What? You can make that at home?
So I checked out the ingredients, and yes you can. In fact, it's very, very simple. This knowledge came at a perfect time because my store-bought baking powder was nearly gone, and sure enough, one naptime I wanted to bake something and (re)discovered at the last minute that I didn't have enough baking powder. (My favourite banana bread recipe, which I make once or twice a week, uses 3 teaspoons of the stuff.)
Anyways, I followed the recipe for baking powder, replacing corn starch with tapioca starch. I used my kitchen scale to measure out the weights but I think next time I might not do that. I suspect my 4-pound scale just isn't accurate enough to do 1 or 2 ounces, because while I was measuring, I touched the scale and it suddenly sprang up past the mark I was going for. I decided to pretend I hadn't seen that and just poured it all together.
I've used it several times now, and everything I make seems to rise just fine. I couldn't help but wonder if cream of tartar is some nasty toxin so I looked it up. In case you didn't already know, it is not a toxin. It's the powder left in wine barrels, which comes from tartaric acid. It provides the acid that reacts with the basic baking soda.
So here's the recipe:
Baking Powder
2 ounces (1/4 cup) cream of tartar
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) baking soda
1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) starch (corn, potato or tapioca would all work)
Ms. Lewis recommends weighing the ingredients and cautions that if you do use measuring cups and spoons, "use a light hand and do not pack them down." She goes on, "Also, it just isn't true that when you use single-acting baking powder you have to mix up the dry and liquid ingredients quickly and bake them right away or else the batter will die. I make spoon bread batter the night before and it rises just fine the next day."
So that's good to know too.
So I checked out the ingredients, and yes you can. In fact, it's very, very simple. This knowledge came at a perfect time because my store-bought baking powder was nearly gone, and sure enough, one naptime I wanted to bake something and (re)discovered at the last minute that I didn't have enough baking powder. (My favourite banana bread recipe, which I make once or twice a week, uses 3 teaspoons of the stuff.)
Anyways, I followed the recipe for baking powder, replacing corn starch with tapioca starch. I used my kitchen scale to measure out the weights but I think next time I might not do that. I suspect my 4-pound scale just isn't accurate enough to do 1 or 2 ounces, because while I was measuring, I touched the scale and it suddenly sprang up past the mark I was going for. I decided to pretend I hadn't seen that and just poured it all together.
I've used it several times now, and everything I make seems to rise just fine. I couldn't help but wonder if cream of tartar is some nasty toxin so I looked it up. In case you didn't already know, it is not a toxin. It's the powder left in wine barrels, which comes from tartaric acid. It provides the acid that reacts with the basic baking soda.
So here's the recipe:
Baking Powder
2 ounces (1/4 cup) cream of tartar
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) baking soda
1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) starch (corn, potato or tapioca would all work)
Ms. Lewis recommends weighing the ingredients and cautions that if you do use measuring cups and spoons, "use a light hand and do not pack them down." She goes on, "Also, it just isn't true that when you use single-acting baking powder you have to mix up the dry and liquid ingredients quickly and bake them right away or else the batter will die. I make spoon bread batter the night before and it rises just fine the next day."
So that's good to know too.
Friday, February 1, 2013
the cook book obsession
I've developed an obsession for collecting vintage cookbooks. Because our diet has been changing to more meat, potato and vegetable type fare at the same time that I'm trying to eat more seasonally and locally, these books have a practical benefit. But I also adore their aesthetics. Back then it was far too expensive to print photos on most cookbooks (now, with digital printing, full-colour printing costs the same as one-colour) so instead they used a lot of charming drawings and etchings. I only recently found a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume II, and I was fascinated to discover that although her husband photographed the recipes quite painstakingly (I remember reading about it in My Life in France), they hired an illustrator to make simpler line drawings from the photographs instead. Now, when I see the cookbooks at Chapters, they all look so gawdy with all those vivid photographs everywhere.
It all started last January when I was looking for materials to make collages with. I found a 1980 hard cover edition of Elizabeth David Classics and the etchings are absolutely adorable. Behold:
But I couldn't bring myself to actually cut up the pages and when I started looking at some of the recipes, I didn't want to anyways. I haven't actually made anything from the book yet, but its time will come, I am sure.
Today's great success was Date Oatmeal Cake, which I discovered in More Food That Really Schmecks, a cookbook written by a woman in the town next door. It was published in 1979 as a sequel to her 1968 Food That Really Schmecks. My copy of Food That Really Schmecks actually came from my Grandma Ruth's box of recipes and cookbooks that my mom just gave me last Thanksgiving. I was all excited to start going through her recipes, but I was soon disappointed as I remembered that she was an upper-middle-class housewife in the fifties. So pretty much every recipe has a can of Campbell's mushroom soup or some other modern convenience food, which is currently verboten even if it didn't gross me out.
What I find interesting is that my husband actually had lunch with the author, Edna Staebler, through mutual friends during his early days in Canada. Apparently she was friends with my mother-in-law's then-love interest. In fact, the love interest's previous wife actually contributed a recipe to More Food That Really Schmecks, which my mother-in-law discovered when she was absently paging through the book a couple of weeks ago. Small world, eh?
But back to the Date Oatmeal Cake. It was the first recipe I've seen that I just felt immediately compelled to make. Of course, it helped that I had all the ingredients on hand. But it also just looked so weird, I couldn't imagine it would actually make a cake. But oh did it ever. And it was delicious.
The recipe called for 2 cups of brown sugar, but I just couldn't do it with all the dates. I only used 1 cup and that was absolutely the right call. I cannot imagine it being any sweeter than it was, and next time I think I'll use only half a cup. I'm tempted to try to cut the sugar out completely, but I've heard that sugar really helps retain moisture in baking, so I worry it would come out like congealed oatmeal. I used my own gluten-free flour mix and no gums. (recipe below)
Speaking of successes, right before dinner Eldest said he wanted to celebrate the first day of February. My eye caught on the four jars of peaches I made late last summer, and I thought perhaps it was time to taste them. So we had them with the cake and hoo boy, did it ever make up for the tough pot roast. It was my first time canning anything other than jam, and I seem to recall there was a screaming baby and grumping husband as I painstakingly peeled and sliced the slightly underripe clingstone peaches. But it was so worth it. Next summer I need to do more, and I'm pretty sure this time Eldest and my husband will be jumping in to help. I used the recipe for Peaches in Vanilla Syrup from Canning for a New Generation, which I had from the library, but which now I really, really must buy it to have forever. I found the recipe reproduced here.
Date Oatmeal Cake
Pour 1 cup boiling water over 2 cups rolled oats, mix well, cool slightly, then blend in:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups finely chopped dates
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I didn't have any so left them out)
Sift together:
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves (I left this out because I'm not a big fan but I wonder about cardamom)
Pour the oatmeal mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well (Oops! I put the flour into the oatmeal mixture. Oh well). Bake in an 8-inch square greased pan at 350F for 45 minutes or until done.
From all the blogs I read, it seems that a recipe is not complete without beautiful photos of the making with lots of soft focus and no clutter. Well, my house just doesn't roll that way. In truth, we need an intervention. But until that happens, this is what my kitchen looks like. The unwashed bowl from last night's chicken stock straining, the silly dentist advertisement that says "We have laughing gas!" as its main message, bulk dry goods in paper bags that I don't have jars into which to put them, the vinegar and water spray bottle, the choking hazards, and all the other things that I can't figure out where to put because our house is so open concept and the toddler gets into EVERYTHING. But look at that pyrex bowl! I just found a set of four of them in pristine condition.
I'm thinking of starting a series of photo posts called This Fucking Moment where it's all clutter and chaos. Surely there must be someone else out there for whom those pretty, clean photos of homemade goodness are pure fantasy? Someone else who will take comfort that we of the domestic incompetence are not alone?
It all started last January when I was looking for materials to make collages with. I found a 1980 hard cover edition of Elizabeth David Classics and the etchings are absolutely adorable. Behold:
But I couldn't bring myself to actually cut up the pages and when I started looking at some of the recipes, I didn't want to anyways. I haven't actually made anything from the book yet, but its time will come, I am sure.
Anyways... I've been trying new things in the kitchen. Yesterday I baked my first ham and made up my glaze with dijon, brown sugar and a bit of ground cinnamon. I also made baked beans for the first time, which had been on my mind for some time, even though I've never actually enjoyed baked beans. Mine turned out delicious. I used about half a raw, pureed beet instead of ketchup and added a bit of extra maple syrup and apple cider vinegar, along with salt and dry mustard.
Today I tried my hand at a grass-fed pot roast. I guess I was feeling a bit cocky after yesterday's success, and as well, I had an actual, real-life friend visiting so I wasn't able to find a real recipe to follow. Anyways, it was more than edible but still rather tough and over done. A good (if expensive) learning experience.
Today's great success was Date Oatmeal Cake, which I discovered in More Food That Really Schmecks, a cookbook written by a woman in the town next door. It was published in 1979 as a sequel to her 1968 Food That Really Schmecks. My copy of Food That Really Schmecks actually came from my Grandma Ruth's box of recipes and cookbooks that my mom just gave me last Thanksgiving. I was all excited to start going through her recipes, but I was soon disappointed as I remembered that she was an upper-middle-class housewife in the fifties. So pretty much every recipe has a can of Campbell's mushroom soup or some other modern convenience food, which is currently verboten even if it didn't gross me out.
What I find interesting is that my husband actually had lunch with the author, Edna Staebler, through mutual friends during his early days in Canada. Apparently she was friends with my mother-in-law's then-love interest. In fact, the love interest's previous wife actually contributed a recipe to More Food That Really Schmecks, which my mother-in-law discovered when she was absently paging through the book a couple of weeks ago. Small world, eh?
But back to the Date Oatmeal Cake. It was the first recipe I've seen that I just felt immediately compelled to make. Of course, it helped that I had all the ingredients on hand. But it also just looked so weird, I couldn't imagine it would actually make a cake. But oh did it ever. And it was delicious.
The recipe called for 2 cups of brown sugar, but I just couldn't do it with all the dates. I only used 1 cup and that was absolutely the right call. I cannot imagine it being any sweeter than it was, and next time I think I'll use only half a cup. I'm tempted to try to cut the sugar out completely, but I've heard that sugar really helps retain moisture in baking, so I worry it would come out like congealed oatmeal. I used my own gluten-free flour mix and no gums. (recipe below)
Speaking of successes, right before dinner Eldest said he wanted to celebrate the first day of February. My eye caught on the four jars of peaches I made late last summer, and I thought perhaps it was time to taste them. So we had them with the cake and hoo boy, did it ever make up for the tough pot roast. It was my first time canning anything other than jam, and I seem to recall there was a screaming baby and grumping husband as I painstakingly peeled and sliced the slightly underripe clingstone peaches. But it was so worth it. Next summer I need to do more, and I'm pretty sure this time Eldest and my husband will be jumping in to help. I used the recipe for Peaches in Vanilla Syrup from Canning for a New Generation, which I had from the library, but which now I really, really must buy it to have forever. I found the recipe reproduced here.
Date Oatmeal Cake
Pour 1 cup boiling water over 2 cups rolled oats, mix well, cool slightly, then blend in:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups finely chopped dates
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I didn't have any so left them out)
Sift together:
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves (I left this out because I'm not a big fan but I wonder about cardamom)
Pour the oatmeal mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well (Oops! I put the flour into the oatmeal mixture. Oh well). Bake in an 8-inch square greased pan at 350F for 45 minutes or until done.
From all the blogs I read, it seems that a recipe is not complete without beautiful photos of the making with lots of soft focus and no clutter. Well, my house just doesn't roll that way. In truth, we need an intervention. But until that happens, this is what my kitchen looks like. The unwashed bowl from last night's chicken stock straining, the silly dentist advertisement that says "We have laughing gas!" as its main message, bulk dry goods in paper bags that I don't have jars into which to put them, the vinegar and water spray bottle, the choking hazards, and all the other things that I can't figure out where to put because our house is so open concept and the toddler gets into EVERYTHING. But look at that pyrex bowl! I just found a set of four of them in pristine condition.
I'm thinking of starting a series of photo posts called This Fucking Moment where it's all clutter and chaos. Surely there must be someone else out there for whom those pretty, clean photos of homemade goodness are pure fantasy? Someone else who will take comfort that we of the domestic incompetence are not alone?
Sunday, July 29, 2012
peach-raspberry crisp
I make fruit crisps pretty much all year round. In the spring, it's rhubarb custard crisp or rhubarb-strawberry crisp. Last summer was peach blueberry crisp. Then in the fall it was pear-cranberry-gingerbread crisp and apple-cranberry (I hope to perfect that recipe this fall and post it here... I didn't quite the gingerbread crisp reliable).
The other day I wanted to make peach crisp but the blueberries had already been eaten. So I used frozen raspberries instead and boy was it delicious. It's possible you could do with a bit more sugar with the fruit. When I tasted it right out of the oven it was a bit tart, but by the next day it was wonderful. That is one thing I've discovered with fruit crisps: they're always better on the second and third days. Anyways, I feel it is a public service to share this recipe for peach-raspberry crisp.
6 peaches, peeled and cut (about 2 lbs)
lemon zest (I barely had any... this was adapted from a peach-blueberry recipe so I'm thinking raspberries' tartness maybe don't need any)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup brown rice flour (if you can tolerate gluten use all-purpose)
1 cup frozen raspberries
Topping:
1 1/2 cups oats
1/4 + half of a 1/4 cup butter (or dairy-free substitute)
1/4 + half of a 1/4 cup brown sugar
(sorry for the awkward numbers - I wanted more crisp than the original recipe, which was 1 c. oats, 1/4 c. butter and 1/4 c. brown sugar)
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combine the peaces, lemon zest, juice, white sugar, vanilla and flour in a bowl. Fold in raspberries. Let stand for 5 mins while you make the crisp.
Mix the crisp ingredients together with your hands until they're well blended. Pour the fruit into a baking dish (I use an 8x12 inch rectangular dish but I think pretty much any shape can work). Drop bits of the crisp mixture over the top as evenly as possible.
Bake for 40-45 minutes.
The other day I wanted to make peach crisp but the blueberries had already been eaten. So I used frozen raspberries instead and boy was it delicious. It's possible you could do with a bit more sugar with the fruit. When I tasted it right out of the oven it was a bit tart, but by the next day it was wonderful. That is one thing I've discovered with fruit crisps: they're always better on the second and third days. Anyways, I feel it is a public service to share this recipe for peach-raspberry crisp.
6 peaches, peeled and cut (about 2 lbs)
lemon zest (I barely had any... this was adapted from a peach-blueberry recipe so I'm thinking raspberries' tartness maybe don't need any)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup brown rice flour (if you can tolerate gluten use all-purpose)
1 cup frozen raspberries
Topping:
1 1/2 cups oats
1/4 + half of a 1/4 cup butter (or dairy-free substitute)
1/4 + half of a 1/4 cup brown sugar
(sorry for the awkward numbers - I wanted more crisp than the original recipe, which was 1 c. oats, 1/4 c. butter and 1/4 c. brown sugar)
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combine the peaces, lemon zest, juice, white sugar, vanilla and flour in a bowl. Fold in raspberries. Let stand for 5 mins while you make the crisp.
Mix the crisp ingredients together with your hands until they're well blended. Pour the fruit into a baking dish (I use an 8x12 inch rectangular dish but I think pretty much any shape can work). Drop bits of the crisp mixture over the top as evenly as possible.
Bake for 40-45 minutes.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Grandma Ruth's Rhubarb Relish
Ever since I started this elimination diet, my milk supply has been a bit hit and miss. It was confusing because I was eating all kinds of oats and flax and other galactogogues. I was drinking many cups of nursing tea and that helped a bit. But every time I stopped, my supply would drop again. A few weeks ago I saw a tweet that said that if you're struggling with milk supply you should increase your protein.
I have never in my life been concerned with protein intake even though I've been mostly vegetarian for 12 years or so. I ate enough dairy, wheat, corn, soy, eggs, nuts and seeds that it was never a problem. But apparently when you're breastfeeding you need 65 grams of protein a day and a cup of oatmeal only has 6 grams in it. Ever since I've been struggling to eat more protein. We've already given up vegetarianism for chicken and fish, and we started cooking chicken ourselves. But there's only so much chicken and fish one can have in a week.
At the same time I've been reading a lot about how grass-fed meat is so much better for you than grain-fed meat. I've never had moral concerns with eating meat; my pseudo-vegetarianism was more about health and sustainability. So now I'm realizing that well-raised meat can be a part of a healthy diet and a healthy planet.
I've discovered a local farmer who raises all kinds of pastured meat. She no longer sells at our usual market so yesterday we finally made the trek to the more distant market she sells at. We bought some nitrate-free bacon, turkey sausages, stewing goat (!) (I don't think I've ever eaten goat in my life!) and a chicken. Sadly she was out of the maple and cranberry pork sausage, cause I would totally try that.
It's so weird because I'd gotten really squeamish about eating red meat in my years away, but now I feel totally ok with it. (It helps that I'm REALLY HUNGRY for protein.) I've even been thinking about eating things like rabbit. There actually is a local rabbit farmer at the same market but my husband isn't quite there yet.
Anyways, we decided to have the turkey sausages today since rhubarb is plentiful and I've been wanting to make my Grandma Ruth's Rhubarb Relish for the first time. I have to say, it was super easy and pretty great. My mom was pretty vague with the canning instructions, so all I did was sterilize the jars and I'll keep them in the fridge. If you know about canning and things, please share what I should do.
Here's the recipe:
4 cups chopped rhubarb
4 cups chopped onions
3 cups white sugar
375 ml malt vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar to avoid the gluten and it tasted just as good)
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
You throw them in a pot, mix it, bring it to a boil then let it boil gently for about 45 minutes. I think I let it boil a little too gently because it took over an hour before the rhubarb really broke down and it matched the consistency I have in my memory.
My family eats it with sausage and chicken. It would probably be great on a turkey sandwich or dipping pakoras into, but I haven't tried that.
Edited to add: If you like rhubarb, you should definitely try this recipe for rhubarb custard crisp. Yum!
I have never in my life been concerned with protein intake even though I've been mostly vegetarian for 12 years or so. I ate enough dairy, wheat, corn, soy, eggs, nuts and seeds that it was never a problem. But apparently when you're breastfeeding you need 65 grams of protein a day and a cup of oatmeal only has 6 grams in it. Ever since I've been struggling to eat more protein. We've already given up vegetarianism for chicken and fish, and we started cooking chicken ourselves. But there's only so much chicken and fish one can have in a week.
At the same time I've been reading a lot about how grass-fed meat is so much better for you than grain-fed meat. I've never had moral concerns with eating meat; my pseudo-vegetarianism was more about health and sustainability. So now I'm realizing that well-raised meat can be a part of a healthy diet and a healthy planet.
I've discovered a local farmer who raises all kinds of pastured meat. She no longer sells at our usual market so yesterday we finally made the trek to the more distant market she sells at. We bought some nitrate-free bacon, turkey sausages, stewing goat (!) (I don't think I've ever eaten goat in my life!) and a chicken. Sadly she was out of the maple and cranberry pork sausage, cause I would totally try that.
It's so weird because I'd gotten really squeamish about eating red meat in my years away, but now I feel totally ok with it. (It helps that I'm REALLY HUNGRY for protein.) I've even been thinking about eating things like rabbit. There actually is a local rabbit farmer at the same market but my husband isn't quite there yet.
Anyways, we decided to have the turkey sausages today since rhubarb is plentiful and I've been wanting to make my Grandma Ruth's Rhubarb Relish for the first time. I have to say, it was super easy and pretty great. My mom was pretty vague with the canning instructions, so all I did was sterilize the jars and I'll keep them in the fridge. If you know about canning and things, please share what I should do.
Here's the recipe:
4 cups chopped rhubarb
4 cups chopped onions
3 cups white sugar
375 ml malt vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar to avoid the gluten and it tasted just as good)
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
You throw them in a pot, mix it, bring it to a boil then let it boil gently for about 45 minutes. I think I let it boil a little too gently because it took over an hour before the rhubarb really broke down and it matched the consistency I have in my memory.
My family eats it with sausage and chicken. It would probably be great on a turkey sandwich or dipping pakoras into, but I haven't tried that.
Edited to add: If you like rhubarb, you should definitely try this recipe for rhubarb custard crisp. Yum!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
gluten-free cookies!
Someone I know has just been put on bedrest at 29 weeks. She already has two young children, and since I have the time and mental space, I scheduled a visit with her today. I dithered about what kind of food to make her. Her family has lots of allergies and intolerances, but since I've become recently acquainted with [everything]-free recipes myself, that wasn't such a problem.
I decided on my pumpkin soup and a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I adapted this recipe to make it gluten, soy and dairy-free. I can't believe how delicious they were. I almost think they were better than the dairy and gluten-y recipe. So as a public service, here are the ingredients I used:
1 c. Earth Balance coconut spread
1 c. brown sugar (I was actually out of brown sugar so I used white with a dribble of molasses)
1 egg
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
1 c. Bob's gluten-free all-purpose flour
1 c. teff flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/4 c. quinoa flakes
1 tsp gluten and corn-free baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c. dairy-free, soy-free chocolate chips.
Follow the original instructions.
I decided on my pumpkin soup and a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I adapted this recipe to make it gluten, soy and dairy-free. I can't believe how delicious they were. I almost think they were better than the dairy and gluten-y recipe. So as a public service, here are the ingredients I used:
1 c. Earth Balance coconut spread
1 c. brown sugar (I was actually out of brown sugar so I used white with a dribble of molasses)
1 egg
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
1 c. Bob's gluten-free all-purpose flour
1 c. teff flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/4 c. quinoa flakes
1 tsp gluten and corn-free baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c. dairy-free, soy-free chocolate chips.
Follow the original instructions.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
pasta with leeks, greens and pink fish
One of the good things about eliminating entire foods and their derivatives from your diet, is that suddenly take-out or eating out isn't the easy way out of dinner when you're tired. It makes things more complicated to try to eat food prepared by someone else who doesn't know about your requirements.
A few weeks or months ago, late in the week, I was out of our usual vegetable combinations so I couldn't do one of our standby dishes without going to the store. And I was too tired to drag my two kids to the store. So I looked in the fridge and consulted with a few tweeps. I had leeks, spinach, a can of salmon in the cupboard and some pasta. Could I throw them all together? Oh yes. It was so good, I made sure to take notes and I'm sharing it here because I'm nice. My amounts aren't precise but I'm sure it's forgiving. I've done it with both swiss chard and spinach, and also with both together. All good.
Ingredients
3 leeks, sliced (don't slice the darker green part)
a bunch of greens, chopped - I use spinach or chard usually
bay leaf
1/2 tsp oregano or thyme
1 tsp capers
a shake or two of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup white wine (I've also used a splash of apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar)
sea salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp (?) honey (I've also used maple syrup)
Saute the leeks in oil, bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper. When it starts to soften, add capers, cinnamon and honey. Cook for a minute or two more, then pour in the wine. If you're using vinegar of some kind, add some water. Cover and steam until the leeks are good and soft.
Boil pasta.
Add the green and fish and cover again. Add more wine or water if it's drying out too much, though you don't want it too watery at the end. Check seasoning and adjust to taste. Drain the pasta and dump it in to mix. If I'm feeling smart I may have reserved some pasta cooking water to loosen things up but I've done it both ways and I'm not convinced it's better with the pasta water.
Enjoy.
A few weeks or months ago, late in the week, I was out of our usual vegetable combinations so I couldn't do one of our standby dishes without going to the store. And I was too tired to drag my two kids to the store. So I looked in the fridge and consulted with a few tweeps. I had leeks, spinach, a can of salmon in the cupboard and some pasta. Could I throw them all together? Oh yes. It was so good, I made sure to take notes and I'm sharing it here because I'm nice. My amounts aren't precise but I'm sure it's forgiving. I've done it with both swiss chard and spinach, and also with both together. All good.
Ingredients
3 leeks, sliced (don't slice the darker green part)
a bunch of greens, chopped - I use spinach or chard usually
bay leaf
1/2 tsp oregano or thyme
1 tsp capers
a shake or two of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup white wine (I've also used a splash of apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar)
sea salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp (?) honey (I've also used maple syrup)
Saute the leeks in oil, bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper. When it starts to soften, add capers, cinnamon and honey. Cook for a minute or two more, then pour in the wine. If you're using vinegar of some kind, add some water. Cover and steam until the leeks are good and soft.
Boil pasta.
Add the green and fish and cover again. Add more wine or water if it's drying out too much, though you don't want it too watery at the end. Check seasoning and adjust to taste. Drain the pasta and dump it in to mix. If I'm feeling smart I may have reserved some pasta cooking water to loosen things up but I've done it both ways and I'm not convinced it's better with the pasta water.
Enjoy.
mustard
One of the many things I have to avoid during this elimination diet (and also during the reintroduction stage) is sulphites. They are not something I generally seek out, but equally, I don't necessarily try to avoid them either. Most of the things I usually eat with sulphites also had other prohibited foods like wheat, corn, egg, dairy or soy ingredients in them.
For whatever reason, I've been crazy about sauteed, sliced Brussels sprouts since my pregnancy, and I like to add a spoon of dijon towards the end of cooking them. My mustard doesn't have any prohibited ingredients in it except sulphites. In fact, I was shocked to discover it's pretty much only mustard powder, water and vinegar. I thought for sure there had to be some oil in it, and maybe even some egg. Anyways, I started to wonder what might be involved in attempting to make it myself.
Turns out, not much. Once again, a store-bought product that I had always assumed was far too labour-intensive or time-consuming for the home cook is totally not. This reinforces my current conspiracy-theory-thinking that everything we think we know is really just advertising transmitted through generations. (Just imagine the ad in the early 20th century for Grey Poupon or French's... "You don't want to slave away in your kitchen making mustard. Buy our mustard instead and just use it whenever you want." Or something like that...Actually, I couldn't resist trying to track down early ads for French's, which showed up in 1926, although the mustard was first sold in 1904. Check this out!
The text says:
"What woman doesn't like having the reputation of being able 'to do things' in the table she sets for family or friends? -- This mustard, fine and creamy, in your sauces, savories, salads -- in your cooking -- in your cold dishes -- will help along such good report. Wherever you use French's it adds a touch of irresistible flavor that banishes the commonplace. You will find the booklet offered very interesting.
No other Mustard has such Flavor"
Is it just me, or is there a whole lotta double entendres happening in that text?)
Anyways, I made mustard. I followed these instructions, and it couldn't have been easier. I even ground the mustard seeds by hand in my new mortar and pestle. I let it sit in the fridge overnight. I tasted it the next day, just by itself, because I was so curious, and it blew my head off with its heat. I did enjoy it -- sparingly -- on a salmon sandwich the other day (with quinoa, gluten-free bread) but it's really a bit hot and I'm not sure how to cool it down other than by applying heat.
So yesterday I bought some fresh steelhead trout and decided to try smearing the mustard on it and baking it in the oven (usually my husband barbecues our fish). I was nervous, as I haven't actually handled fresh fish myself but I'm getting more comfortable with the I-don't-know-how-to-do-this-and-it-feels-really-weird-and-unpleasant feeling and mostly ignored it. I mixed in a bit of maple syrup to tone the mustard down a bit, because I was worried the oven just wouldn't do it enough.
While the fish baked, I got on with the vegetables for my pasta with leeks, greens and pink fish. At the end, I flaked about half my trout into the leeks and greens and saved the other half for whatever we wanted. Mmmm, that fish was delicious. Like Homer, I wish I was eating that fish RIGHT NOW. But it disappeared way too quickly. I will totally do that again.
(I actually took this after I'd eaten most of it, so it doesn't look as good as it tasted. But look at the bowl! Five of them for only $1 each at the Salvation Army and they're from before 1891!)
For whatever reason, I've been crazy about sauteed, sliced Brussels sprouts since my pregnancy, and I like to add a spoon of dijon towards the end of cooking them. My mustard doesn't have any prohibited ingredients in it except sulphites. In fact, I was shocked to discover it's pretty much only mustard powder, water and vinegar. I thought for sure there had to be some oil in it, and maybe even some egg. Anyways, I started to wonder what might be involved in attempting to make it myself.
Turns out, not much. Once again, a store-bought product that I had always assumed was far too labour-intensive or time-consuming for the home cook is totally not. This reinforces my current conspiracy-theory-thinking that everything we think we know is really just advertising transmitted through generations. (Just imagine the ad in the early 20th century for Grey Poupon or French's... "You don't want to slave away in your kitchen making mustard. Buy our mustard instead and just use it whenever you want." Or something like that...Actually, I couldn't resist trying to track down early ads for French's, which showed up in 1926, although the mustard was first sold in 1904. Check this out!
The text says:
"What woman doesn't like having the reputation of being able 'to do things' in the table she sets for family or friends? -- This mustard, fine and creamy, in your sauces, savories, salads -- in your cooking -- in your cold dishes -- will help along such good report. Wherever you use French's it adds a touch of irresistible flavor that banishes the commonplace. You will find the booklet offered very interesting.
No other Mustard has such Flavor"
Is it just me, or is there a whole lotta double entendres happening in that text?)
Anyways, I made mustard. I followed these instructions, and it couldn't have been easier. I even ground the mustard seeds by hand in my new mortar and pestle. I let it sit in the fridge overnight. I tasted it the next day, just by itself, because I was so curious, and it blew my head off with its heat. I did enjoy it -- sparingly -- on a salmon sandwich the other day (with quinoa, gluten-free bread) but it's really a bit hot and I'm not sure how to cool it down other than by applying heat.
So yesterday I bought some fresh steelhead trout and decided to try smearing the mustard on it and baking it in the oven (usually my husband barbecues our fish). I was nervous, as I haven't actually handled fresh fish myself but I'm getting more comfortable with the I-don't-know-how-to-do-this-and-it-feels-really-weird-and-unpleasant feeling and mostly ignored it. I mixed in a bit of maple syrup to tone the mustard down a bit, because I was worried the oven just wouldn't do it enough.
While the fish baked, I got on with the vegetables for my pasta with leeks, greens and pink fish. At the end, I flaked about half my trout into the leeks and greens and saved the other half for whatever we wanted. Mmmm, that fish was delicious. Like Homer, I wish I was eating that fish RIGHT NOW. But it disappeared way too quickly. I will totally do that again.
(I actually took this after I'd eaten most of it, so it doesn't look as good as it tasted. But look at the bowl! Five of them for only $1 each at the Salvation Army and they're from before 1891!)
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